Whatever Happened to?
by N7HG
Summary: A collection of drabbles, vignettes, and one-shots set during the reaper war and after. They are epilogues that explore the galaxy as a whole, examining Commander's Shepard's choices and the impact that they had on people's lives, no matter how great or how small that influence was. Told from various perspectives, this is a multifaceted window into the universe of Mass Effect.
1. Foreword

What Happened After:

Foreword:

So, heya and all that. Like I said I said in the description, The following is a series of drabbles and vignettes that take place over a five year span after Commander Shepard chose to destroy the reapers. I'll be sticking to canon for the most part; for a majority of the drabbles to make sense, think Paragon Shep that chose the destroy ending. Otherwise, I've tried to leave as much as I can ambiguous. I have the intention to cover as many minor characters as possible to show each and every person that Shepard had an impact on, no matter how large or small. There will also be occasional flashback chapters that showcase minor characters during the events of Mass Effect 3.

I'd like tot think of these small chapters as epilogues for the various people of the Mass Effect Universe.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the ride!


	2. Eden Prime: Big Gorram Heroes

_**2191 - Galactic Remembrance Day**_

**Eden Prime**

"Well this is a nice bar isn't it?" smiled as she grabbed a seat. "I told you it was, I've been going here for drinks every Saturday since it was built." Cole replied; he was a farmer with thinning brown hair on the top of his head and loved a place he could relax in. The doctor was a new acquaintance of his, a fellow survivor of the geth invasion nine years ago and the Cerberus attack now five years in the past. He had met her a few days ago at a farmer's market and had happened to overhear her say that she had no one to spend remembrance day with. That was all it took for him to invite her out, and he was glad that she had taken him up on his offer. " I hope you don't mind, he continued. "But I told a friend of mine to meet me here." raised an eyebrow at first but then shrugged. "Do what you like. It's just nice to spend this holiday in someone's company." Cole nodded. "You know, I've seen you around. You've lived here for a while but you don't really act like you're a part of the community." The doctor shrugged. "I came here with the science crew nine years ago for the artifact. Only I and my assistant made it through the attack that followed, but Manuel...passed away during the Reaper war." She stopped talking there; while she had no problem discussing anything to do with the war, it was more difficult to admit to anyone that her only friend had been indoctrinated and tried to kill her when the reapers hit. And that she had had to put him down herself. Wanting to change the subject, she looked at the wall opposite her table and pored over the photographs that covered the wall. Whoever owned the place had let people put up pictures and holo's of those they had lost in the conflict, but what really caught her eye was the picture of Commander Shepard set in the center.

"You know I met Shepard once. Or maybe I should say I was rescued by the commander once. It was the day the geth hit." Cole laughed out loud. "No kidding? The commander helped me out that day too, unlocked the shed that I was hiding in." He opened his mouth to say something else, but a new voice cut in. "Did I here someone mention the commander?" Cole turned round in his seat with a grin. "Powell you old son of a gun! Glad you could make it!" Powell grinned and took a seat across from the doctor. "That day I thought I was going to die for sure. First the geth, then that spectre, and the I thought for sure Shepard's squadmate was going to shoot me. Back then, I probably would've deserved it though." Cole patted his friend on the back. "Ah, but we've come such a long way from being smugglers. Me and you, veterans of the EPRM. Who woulda thunk it?" Powell nodded. Helping to kick Cerberus off of his planet as part of the resistance movement had been just one of the ways he had chosen to help redeem himself for a life full of cowardice. "Guess we each owe Shepard something."

"You're guddam right you owe Shepard." Dr. Warren gasped as a man entered the bar from the back door and went behind the counter. He was dressed in simple clothing, pants and a sleevless t-shirt. A towel was draped over his shoulders, but that was't why had gasped. She had gasped because his face was covered in scars, the most noticeable making it look like part of his face had been grafted on, mismatching his eyes. Cole just chuckled and gave the bartender a wave. With the notability of being a former crew member aboard the Normandy SR-2, Zaaed Massani had found no shortage of job offers after the war, everything from alliance postings to seedt assassination contracts. But he had chosen to travel back to the Terminus Systems after the war to assist in the cleanup of inert Reapers. Far too many organizations wanted to scavenge and sell Reaper technology on the black market. After tracking down Donner Vosque, who he shot at point blank range, Zaeed worked hard to retake complete control of the group he had founded and within a year, he was once again the leader of the Blue Suns, retooling them into a private security force and working in conjunction with Aria T'Loak to keep the Omega Space Station running safe and smoothly. Eventually though, the merc had grown bored with guns and fighting and had retired to Eden Prime, where he opened a little bar named Jessie's. Cole only knew all this because Zaeed had a tendency to launch into stories about himself if anything reminded him of something from his past. A lot of things seemed to do that. A man leading a varren on a leash entered the bar and Zaeed slammed a fist down on the table. "Dammit! How many times do I have to tell you people? The Varren ring is around the back! Now take that guddam mutt out of here before I toss it on the barbecue." Dr. Warren's eyes got big, but not wanting to get pulled into the yelling, she turned to Cole and smiled awkwardly. "Jessie's. Nice name for a bar. Why's he call it that?" Cole chuckled and shook his head. "He named it for a girl that's real close to his heart." As Cole said this, he pointed to the rusty M-8 Avenger mounted on the wall behind the counter, much to Dr. Warren's confusion. Zaeed noticed where the farmer was pointing and grinned. "God, I love that gun. Kept me alive in more shitty missions that I could tell you about. His mismatched eyes grew thoughtful and so he leaned on the counter, crossing his arms. "Say, have I ever told you lot about the time I went on a suicide mission and I _wasn't_ the only one to make it out alive? It all started when I got a job offer from the guddam illusive man...


	3. Intai'sei: Best of the Best

_**2191 - Remembrance Day**_

**Intai'sei**

It wasn't the same. Not really, thought the turian as he idly clacked his talons on the table. The true station had been destroyed by the reapers during the war and there hadn't been enough of it left to even fill a skycar. It had been a quick fight; a couple blasts from a single reaper's main cannon and whole decks had been blown out. Vidinos had been one of the lucky few to make it to the shuttle bay when his home away from home had started to be blasted apart. Aside from a few other turians and a salarian technician, everyone had gone down with Pinnacle, Admiral Ahern included. In his fur at learning the Hierarchy was under attack on several fronts, Vidinos had gotten in contact with members of his old spec ops team and had spent the war going on small hit and run missions for the turian war effort. But that had been half a decade go. He needed something new to get his blood pumping, something like the project the salarian in front of him was working on. "It is done yet Ochren? It's been months." The salarian did not at him, continuing to tap away at several screens, but Vidinos could still feel a glare. "You try rebuilding a simulator with nothing but a handful of files and a shoddy set-up and see how long it takes you. I- hang on, it's doing something."

Vidinos got out of his chair in anticipation and threw a door open. He had spent months financing and building a new hologrid after Ochren revealed that he had managed to download some, if not all of the challenges from Pinnacle station and was sure that he could get them to work on the right platform. Vidinos peered inside expectantly. A minute after the salarian had spoken, the grid hummed to life, filling the room with a lush tropical paradise. "A-ha! You've done it, you've really done it!" Vidinos crowed in triumph. Now was his chance to set the standard. After setting all the high scores, he'd do what the admiral had always done and invite the best to -

"Huh, well will you look at that. I guess I managed to download more than I thought." Ochren mused.

Vidinos snapped his head around as a orange display projected itself out of one of the screens. It showed the highscores for every simulation in numerical order. Vidinos's scores were there. Behind his in third were Bryant's. Back in 2184, the turian had finally managed to beat the uppity sergeant's scores, but he never been able to beat the scores ranked in first place. It had caused him a great deal of frustration over the years, and to know that they were still there instead of having been wiped clean in the destruction of the station galled him to no end.

Vidinos shook a fist at the display and cursed. "Finish it up Ochren! By the spirits, even from the grave that accursed alliance soldier mocks me. No more! Today will be the day I finally score better than Commander Shepard! I swear it!"


	4. Watson: Please

_**2191 - Remembrance Day**_

**Alliance Cruiser Santa Fe**

"I demand to let out of here! Do you know who I am?

Lieutenant Durand sighed. For the past few years, she had been assigned to a pick-up crew; their job was to search for signs of life among the stars. Millions of people had been trapped after the reapers blew and although the mass relays had been repaired, there were still plenty pockets of people stranded planet side. Usually they were grateful for rescue. Other times, they were crazy. Like the guy her unit had in the hold.

"LET. ME. OUT."

The guy hadn't shut up since the moment he awoke; her unit had had to knock him out to get him on the ship, because he had fired on them, albeit poorly. It was hoped that he, and others that suffered from such delusions could be helped at a new psychological health facility on Watson. At the moment, she doubted that the babbling idiot in the hold could be helped. Poor bastard had been alone for five years, maybe more. They had found his signal emanating from the Hades Gamma cluster and eventually had found a small headquarters filled with decayed merc and reaper ground troop corpses. Mr. Friendly had been locked in the back with enough supplies to last him a decade and had not come quietly.

" I AM LORD DARIUS AND I WILL NOT BE DENIED! RELEASE ME AT ONCE OR SUFFER MY WRATH!"

Durand would almost have preffered having to deal with Rachni again; at least they were quieter.


	5. Shanxi: Sir Isaac Newton

_**2191 - Remembrance Day **_

**Shanxi; Alliance Military Training Camp**

"This, recruits, is a holo of the SSV Normandy Sr-2. Look at the shielding. The main gun of this esteemed ship is a thanix cannon. The Thanix's core is a liquid alloy of iron, uranium, and tungsten suspended in an electromagnetic field powered by element zero. The molten metal, accelerated to a significant fraction of the speed of light, solidifies into a projectile as it is fired, hitting targets with enough force to pierce any known shield or armor. The gun can fire reliably every five seconds. It can give freighters the firing capabilities of a cruiser! Now who can tell me who the deadliest sons-of-a-bitches in space are?! Now! Serviceman Burnside! Who is it?!"

"Sir, the Normandy S-R 2 Sir!"

"No credit for partial answers maggot!

"Sir! I mean the crew of the ship, sir!

"Damn straight! I dare to assume you ignorant jackasses know who was a part of that illustrious crew. They never stopped going until they hit something. That could have been a ship, or the planet behind that ship. They went off into deep space and hit somebody who was gunning for us for the past 50,000 years! If you sent them on a mission, you were ruining someone's day, somewhere and sometime. That is why celebrate this day! They are the only reason that we are still alive today! That is why, Serviceman Chung, we do not all look like "something" out of a horror vid! Now raise your glasses in memory of Commander Shepard maggots!"

"Sir, yes sir!"


	6. Horizon: Alliance Types

_**2186 **_

_**Horizon - Sanctuary **_

"Just look at this place will ya? I tell ya, these Cerberus guys really know what their stuff. Not like that alliance mook we had poking around the colony." He wasn't talking to anyone in particular, just sort of exclaiming his feelings to the air. Delan inhaled a deep breath of fresh air and headed through the large set of double doors into what looked like a waiting area. Scores of people milled around while Cerberus troopers stood by every entrance and exit like silent guardians. Sanctuary was looking to be everything that it had been promised to be. Delan was happy. Cerberus was actually making a difference, unlike that alliance hero that had let half the colony get abducted by the collectors; whatever their name had been. Registering at the counter had been simple and easy, they had only needed his name and a blood sample to get him into the system. A couple of minutes later, a blond woman in a lab coat approached him. "Delan? My name is Doctor Jana. You qualify for a special treatment and I'd like you to accompany me." Delan laughed, clasping his hands together in exultation. Finally, some recognition. She led him through a set of hallways and past several armed guards before ushering him into a small room. " I 'll just need to give you a shot and then you wait here." she instructed. Delan smiled and laid back on the cot after she had injected him with something, wondering what exactly this special treatment consisted of. Caught up in his day dreaming, he failed to notice that the door had been locked when the doctor left, or that the ceiling was made of glass. It wasn't until he felt like his skin was burning, and saw blue lines running up and down on his arm from the injection site that he realized that something was wrong. But by then it too late.


	7. Citadel: Honor

**2189**

**Citadel - Spectre Office**

Jondam Bau massaged his tired temples with the tips of his fingers. He hadn't slept in two days, trying to fulfill the Council's request in as timely a manner as possible. After years of red tape and political jargon spent on speeches about galactic unity, they had finally gotten their acts together and decided to authorize the induction of new spectres. And just in the nick of time too; by Jondam's count, there were less than ten active agents and they were spread throughout the galaxy. The special tactics and reconnaissance branch of the council was in desperate need of new blood and perhaps convinced by the way Shepard had operated compared to the handful that went rogue, spectres were now authorized to not only test potential recruits, but to induct them without the Council's say so. The only problem was that his orders were to find at least a dozen potential candidates by the end of the week; the council still decided how many spectres there needed to be. And that was quite possibly harder than ever before; Doubling the number of council seats after the war had multiplied the causes of his stress. Councilors Calyn, Urdnot Shaman, Danna vas Rannoch, and Korlack were insistent that he look over the prospects they had submitted first, but thus far, he had been hard pressed to find any being worthy among their files. On the other hand, at least Councilor Sanders was a huge step up from Udina. Putting down datapad with a list of volus engineers on it, he tapped a few of the screens in front of him and brought up the names that he was already considering.

**Captain Lee Riley **

**General Corinthus**

**Matriarch Lidanaya**

**Major Kirrahe **

As was expected, the cream of the crop came with numerous recommendations, each one of the best in their field. The human captain had led a successful campaign on Cyone and other planets in that theater of the war, leading a small mixed bag of operatives to victory against wave upon wave of reapers, cerberus troopers, collector remnants and geth heretics. Pretty impressive for a team of four. There were other leaders too, a turian general that had been in charge of the forces on Menae, and Matriarch Lidanaya, who had been the commanding officer aboard the Destiny Ascension for the past three hundred and thirty-six years. STG had put forth Major Kirrahe, who had carried out missions everywhere from Virmire to Tuchanka with a low casulty rate. All perfect candidates. Jondam tapped another screen and brought up two more files.

**Urdnot Dagg**

**Kal'Reeger**

As far as Krogan went, the Urdnot seemed willing to follow orders and had successfully completed some missions for the Krogan clan chief that could be considered delicate; this usually involved an extremely high body count. While Jondam was a little wary about working with a Krogan, he had to admit that times were changing and that the krogan was qualified if a tad ruthless. The quarian had been reported dead on Palaven after his squad had repaired a communications tower and protected it. However, a week after the report had been made, a turian mop-up crew had found him inside the wreckage of a ground transport, delirious with fever, suffering from several badly infected wounds, alone and near death; but alive, if barely. It had taken him months to fully recover from his ordeal, but even though he might have still borne psychological scars from losing his whole squad, he had requested to be transferred wherever he was needed after the war instead of retiring, something which Jondam had to respect. New species joining the ranks of the spectres could be a great boon. After all, it wasn't too long ago that the humans had gotten their first spectre; something that had worked out better than anyone could have predicted. And they had gotten one before getting a council seat. The people on his screens would be the first five he got in touch with. Now if he could just find a volus with combat skills or an Elcor that was light on its feet, then maybe he could the rest of the counselor's off of his back.

If.


	8. Citadel: Duty

**2189 -**

**C-Sec Headquarters**

Executor Bailey sighed. Three years after the end of the war, and sections of the citadel were still being rebuilt. Some of the upper wards were nigh unrecognizable because of the debris, but he took some solace in knowing that no more bodies were going to be found in the rubble. Knocking back a shot of whiskey, he put the glass down and swiveled in his chair, staring at the wall behind him. It bore a memorial plaque with the names of every C-Sec officer that had died when Cerberus had hit the Citadel, as well as the officers that had fallen to the Reapers when the Citadel had been - for lack of a better term- stolen. A lot of good men and women that had deserved a helluva lot better than they had gotten; people like Officer Eddie Lang, Sgt. Haron and Officer Tammert, just to name a few. Pouring himself another shot, he raised his glass to the plaque in recognition of the officers that had admirably performed their duty. Right up until the end.


	9. Citadel: The Usual

_**2186 Citadel, Zakera Wards Docking Bay**_

Kolyat felt his heart beating faster as he guided the skycar through what was left of several floors. A human and a turian sat in the car with him, the latter nursing a wound and the former calling out enemies as he saw them. "Two husks climbing up the ledge to the left. Batarians husks firing across the way." Kolyat kept maneuvering. "My thanks, Mouse." The human nodded. Though the two of them had heard stories of the other, neither had met each other until Kolyat's father had been on his deathbed. Mouse had come to pay his respects and Thane had told them both that he hoped they could both forgive him for always promising to be in their lives and then letting his duty prevent him from keeping his promise. As far as Kolyat was concerned, Mouse was his brother and when the reapers had hit the Citadel, Kolyat had found him in the wards and then decided to begin fulfilling one of the promises he had made to his father; to help people without harming. Thus, he had managed to rescue a turian from a group of husks and was now inbound to save a human and a hanar that he had seen fleeing the guns of a few marauders. He banked sharply, smashing into the turian husks and sending them spiraling into a wall before opening the side door of the car. "Come! We will take you to safety!" The pair hesitantly started for the car, a hesitation that cost the hanar its life at the hands of a trio of cannibals that had just burst through a wrecked door. The brown-haired woman, who was wearing soot stained C-Sec blue, clambered as fast as she could into the car, taking a seat next to the turian as Kolyat maneuvered the car farther up into the woman let out a shuddering breath and took her head off of the window to look around. "Th-thank you for rescuing me." Kolyat kept his eyes ahead of him, lost in his thoughts, but Mouse answered. "Hey, its not a big deal. Just trying to do our part Y'know? For the war effort." She nodded at them at looked at the other passenger, a turian with his arm in a splint who watched her curiously. "D-Do I know you? She said shakily. "Y-you look familiar." The turian shook his head slowly and looked out the opposite window before quietly saying:"You humans are all racist."


End file.
